3 more blocks in for de-allocation

The inter-ministerial group (IMG) on Wednesday recommended de-allocation of three more coal blocks and imposed penalties on the owners of four other blocks.

With this advice, the IMG has completed the progress review of 29 private blocks under its purview.

So far, 11 coal blocks have been recommended for de-allocation. Penalties in the form of encashment of bank guarantees have been recommended in cases of 14 coal blocks.

The panel is reviewing progress— or the lack of it — in cases of 58 blocks allocated to private and public sector firms. Of these, 29 blocks were with private players while the rest are with public sector firms.

The panel in its recommendation on Wednesday imposed penalties on some bigger firms for lack of progress in their captive coal blocks.

This included deduction of bank guarantee in case of Seregraha coal block that was jointly allotted to world’s largest steel producer ArcelorMittal and GVK Powers.

The three coal blocks that would face de-allocation include North Dhadu, allotted to Electrosteel Castings Ltd, the Choritand Tailaya that is allotted to Rungta Mines and Sunflag Iron & Steel and the Gondkhari block allocated jointly to Maharshtra Seamless, Dhariwal Infrastructure and Kesoram Industries.

“These coal blocks have been recommended for de-allocation as the firms owning them did not have the mining plans in place,” said an IMG official.

The firms, which were imposed penalties, include Arcelor Mittal Indian and GVK Power for their Seregraha coal block, DB Power for its Durgapur-II/Sariya block, Nilanchal Iron & Steel and Bajran Ispat for their Dumri block and Jayaswal Neco Industries for their Moitra block.

CBI grills Jayaswal family members

The CBI on Wednesday interrogated four members of the Jayaswal family in connection with its probe into the coal scam.

The four — Manoj, Arvind, Abhishek and Anand— have been named as accused in three of the five FIRs filed in the scam.

Manoj and Arvind Jayaswal are brothers and Abhishek and Anand are their sons.

CBI sources said Nagpur-based Abhijeet group chairman Manoj Jayaswal’s interrogation holds the key to get to the bottom of the matter.